Biography:
In Plotnikov's paintings, imagination and reality merge. The subject of his paintings is somewhere at the edge of fantasy and paradox, and he often combines the totally unexpected themes and objects. Sergei views his paintings as scenes or environments into which his figures appear. Landscapes (his version of them, anyway) are built in planes on the principles of theatrical sets. Then the characters appear—floating in these environments like highly expressive apparitions. They seem completely ego-centric—unaware of anything around them.
Plotnikovs' philosophy is that people cannot completely grasp this ambiguous, contradictory world. They are just a small part of the overall current of events and even of their own impressions—and they try in vain to understand meaning, when the world is by definition incomprehensible. In their attempts to understand the world's vastness and complexity, people join birds, fish, and other lost creatures.
Even as Plotnikov comments on the precariousness of man's plight, he is also acutely aware that the world itself is delicate and in need of protection.
Born in 1958 in Moscow, Plotnikov studied in Minsk, Byelorussia in The Academy of Arts, and now lives and works in Moscow. His works are being shown in numerous private and group exhibitions in the U.S., Norway, Germany, and Russia. He is a member of the UNESCO Union of Artists.
In Plotnikov's paintings, imagination and reality merge. The subject of his paintings is somewhere at the edge of fantasy and paradox, and he often combines the totally unexpected themes and objects. Sergei views his paintings as scenes or environments into which his figures appear. Landscapes (his version of them, anyway) are built in planes on the principles of theatrical sets. Then the characters appear—floating in these environments like highly expressive apparitions. They seem completely ego-centric—unaware of anything around them.
Plotnikovs' philosophy is that people cannot completely grasp this ambiguous, contradictory world. They are just a small part of the overall current of events and even of their own impressions—and they try in vain to understand meaning, when the world is by definition incomprehensible. In their attempts to understand the world's vastness and complexity, people join birds, fish, and other lost creatures.
Even as Plotnikov comments on the precariousness of man's plight, he is also acutely aware that the world itself is delicate and in need of protection.
Born in 1958 in Moscow, Plotnikov studied in Minsk, Byelorussia in The Academy of Arts, and now lives and works in Moscow. His works are being shown in numerous private and group exhibitions in the U.S., Norway, Germany, and Russia. He is a member of the UNESCO Union of Artists.